The History Of Olympic Swimming In Pictures

05 Feb The History Of Olympic Swimming In Pictures

Olympic Swimming, 1896 – 1908

From About.com

Ever wonder when the first time was that people jumped into the water to decide who could get from point A to point B faster?  As this post from About Sports points out, the history of swimming itself dates back to prehistoric man.  Additionally, the original Olympics swimming events were held over roughly measured courses in open water.  This post shows some amazing pictures that date back to the Modern Olympic era, from 1896 on.  

Here is an excerpt from the post:

Swimming dates back a long time! Evidence exists, in the form of cave paintings, that even stone age man did some form of swimming. Early Olympic swimming events were often held over roughly measured courses in open water.

1896 – The return of the modern Olympics saw four swimming events, only for men: the 100 meter, 500 meter, and 1200 meter freestyle plus the sailors 100 meter freestyle. Alfréd Hajós of Hungary won the 100 meter and 1200 meter events.

1900 – The Paris Olympics had seven men’s swimming events, including a 200 meter obstacle swim and underwater swimming. For the obstacle swim, the swimmers had to climb over or under poles and boats. The underwater swim gave one point for each second underwater and two points for each meter swam while underwater.

1904 – The St. Louis Olympics had 9 swimming events for men. This was the first and only time that the Olympic swimmers raced in yards. This was also the first time a USA swimmer earned Olympic swimming medals.

Click here to read the entire post